1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toy building block kit of the type which has a number of specially configured interlocking pieces each having a basic waffle pattern of slots and/or ribs for interconnecting the pieces together to form various structures.
2. Description of the Prior Art Heretofore various toy building block kits having a variety of interlocking pieces have been proposed and examples of such toy building block kits are disclosed in the following U.S. Patents:
______________________________________ U.S. PAT. NO. PATENTEE ______________________________________ 570,688 Stratton 1,174,558 Friedel 2,810,233 Jakobsen 2,020,562 Miller 2,972,833 La Grutta 3,005,282 Christiansen 3,034,254 Christiansen 3,456,413 Fischer 3,676,969 Moore 3,699,709 Schmidt 3,716,939 Pibet 3,800,494 Hall et al. 3,987,579 Palenik, III 4,372,076 Beck ______________________________________
The Stratton U.S. Pat. No. 570,688 discloses a toy building block kit comprising blocks and pieces of different shapes, some of which have grooves therein and some of which have tongues for connecting various parts together. The parts, blocks or pieces have a minimal number of slots for interconnecting so that only a limited number of assemblages of the parts can be made with the building block pieces.
In contradistinction and as will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the building block pieces of the present invention are provided with a waffle pattern of slots to provide a wide variety of interconnections between the various building block pieces as opposed to the limited connections available with the blocks disclosed in the Stratton U.S. Pat. No. 570,688.
The Friedel U.S. Pat. No. 1,174,558 discloses building strips for toy structures wherein the strips are preferably made of stiff board material and have a plurality of spaced apart openings or perforations therein for receiving fasteners for constructing various structures. The building strips disclosed in this patent are very similar in shape to the type that are included in the toy building block kit sold under the trademark ERECTOR SET.
The Miller U.S. Pat. No. 2,020,562 discloses toy blocks which have an elongate configuration and which are configured with groove and tongue formations that can interconnect with each other for creating various structures.
The Jakobsen U.S. Pat. No. 2,810,233 discloses toy building elements of the type which are in the form of elongate cylinders with short pins extending therefrom. The interconnection of the building elements in this patent are somewhat similar to the interconnection of pieces in the toy building block kits sold under the trademark LEGO BLOCKS.
The La Grutta U.S. Pat. No. 2,972,233 discloses plastic blocks for forming a plastic block assembly wherein various block pieces have slots therein adapted to snap fittingly receive therein balls at the ends of necks.
The Christiansen U.S. Pat. No. 3,005,282 discloses building block pieces having tubular recesses in which cylindrical projections are received for interconnecting the various pieces. These pieces are of the type that are sold under the trademark LEGO BLOCKS.
The Christiansen U.S. Pat. No. 3,034,254 discloses toy building sets and building blocks included therein which are of the type that have tubular recesses and cylindrical pins which enable one to interconnect various parts into various structures. Again, these building block pieces are of the type sold under the trademark LEGO BLOCKS.
The Fischer U.S. Pat. No. 3,456,413 discloses structural elements having elongate heads on necks receivable in elongate spaces whereby a sliding interconnection can be made between various structural elements.
The Moore U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,969 discloses a log type building unit wherein various log members have tongues with a specially configured cap member or grooved portion for interconnecting the log members.
The Schmidt U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,709 discloses flat rods having circular grooves therein for direct cross connecting with other rods and having perforations in the rods for receiving projections on coupling pieces.
The Pibet U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,939 discloses a toy construction system including similar or identical building elements having cylindrical projections in one side and cylindrical openings on the opposite side for receiving the cylindrical projections on another identical piece.
The Hall et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,494 discloses a connecting structure for logs where each log has a dovetail portion at one end for mating with a dovetail core portion on an adjacent end of another log with a recess in a further log being received over and transverse of the alignment core portions.
The Palenik, III U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,579 discloses a kit type amusement device having a foundation board, building blocks and connector rods. The blocks have cylindrical openings therein for receiving the rods to interconnect the various building block elements.
The Beck U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,076 discloses a modular interlocking block construction toy kit comprising elongated logs which have notches therein much like the log elements sold under the trademark LINCOLN LOGS.
As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the toy building block kit and the various toy building block pieces thereof differ from the previously proposed toy building block kits and the respective pieces thereof by providing specially configured building block pieces which have a matrix of slots on the various sides thereof with certain of the pieces having ribs at certain locations therein on certain sides thereof extending outwardly therefrom for interconnecting with any one of a number of the slots in the slot matrix on another building block piece.
Also a number of specialty pieces are provided in various toy building block kits for enabling a user thereof to make a variety of constructions, both building type constructions, vehicle type constructions and machine type constructions.